Southern Wan’s Kaiming Department had been busy to the point of swooning, but apart from the capital city of Jinping, the vast majority of areas had yet to be restored. Medical halls and clinics were all crammed with people who had been injured in the earthquakes. Fortunately the weather on the southern continent had yet to turn cold; it was still feasible to throw together a little shack outside and make do for a night.

The Kaiming Departments rushing around everywhere had no established foundation cultivators. All their information lagged a step behind. They finished watching the fireworks display along with their countrymen, who had been the first to come help. They looked at each other helplessly.

In the city outskirts in Suling, a worker clearing the road with a big hoist truck stuck his head out and asked, “Exalted, it isn’t the New Year, what are the immortal mountains celebrating with those fireworks?”

“Um…well…” The Kaiming Cultivator he had asked was himself hardly erudite. After a long moment, he finally squeezed out, “An escape from calamity will be followed by prosperity?”

Bai Ling had been in Suling during the small hours of the morning, and the Kaiming Cultivator who had spoken had followed him around to convey his orders. This casual bit of nonsense was mistakenly taken for something that Bai Ling, who had suddenly left, had said, and so it passed quickly from mouth to mouth.

“An escape from calamity will be followed by prosperity” spread throughout the country via the flying goose…until the Kaiming Department received official correspondence from the Heaven’s Design Pavilion head office in the capital, requesting their assistance in arresting the Heaven’s Design Pavilion established foundation masters who had “absconded without leave.”

Across the river, Western Chu had also been disturbed by the fireworks. The Silver Moon flickered, its silver light dragged out into a comet’s tail by the two mountain peaks. The divine image of the Black Emperor on the Principal Peak seemed to suddenly split apart—this was the result of the silent struggle between the two full moon Ways of the Heart beneath the mountains.

The Xuanyin Mountains were ruled by four big families, and each family had a number of chains of Ways of the Heart of common origin within it, none of them willing to piss in the same pot. Even when they turned into stone, each group still stuck together, ignoring the rest.

Sanyue was different. Sanyue’s “mainstream” was the way that their founder. the Black Emperor, had passed down. Up to and including former sect leader Xiang Rong, eighty percent of the Xiang family belonged to that group, while those from other families each had their own way, forming no trends.

It was just that in Xiang Rong’s era, “passing down a way” had had a rather different meaning from what it had come to mean for later generations. It was Zhao Yin of the Xuanyin Mountains who had started the practice of picking up a predecessor’s Way of the Heart whole without thinking about it. Before that, a permissive teacher like the Southern Sage would allow his disciples to fumble around for themselves, only giving occasional hints, while a strict tyrant like the Black Emperor would inculcate his disciples with his own way, leading his direct disciples to have Ways of the Heart that formed a continuous line from his; but, because each individual’s disposition and comprehension was different, however continuous the line, there would still be slight deviations. That was why, when Xiang Rong had wanted to become a full moon sage, he had needed to use the Unbound Furnace to “correct” his Way of the Heart.

But while the Unbound Furnace without its furnace flame could alter the form, it couldn’t get rid of a person’s selfish desires: when Xiang Rong had been a full moon sage, while he had been as dignified as the Black Emperor’s reincarnation, there had still been a knot in his heart that could never be smoothed out because of the disobedient Xuanwu.

Xuanwu was his brother, a “duplicate” inextricably linked to him, a stain and a disgrace that he couldn’t erase.

Xiang Rong had been hard at work running the Sanyue Mountains for over a thousand years. It didn’t matter to him whose hands it fell into, even if it was the utterly useless Xiang Ning—the only person it couldn’t be was Xuanwu.

Two full moon Ways of the Heart, which had been precisely identical to begin with, now found themselves at odds over a man who couldn’t show his face. Now, as if they had been stimulated by the activity in the Xuanyin Mountains, all the Xiang family members with Ways of the Heart of common origin were being pushed and pulled by two ideas: one side was saying that Xuanwu was an evil cultivator who could not be tolerated by heaven’s law; the other side was saying that the Sanyue Mountains were rudderless, and the foundation of the spiritual mountains was of greater importance.

An ascended spirit might just about manage to steady their mind, but an established foundation—particularly those cultivators who had established foundations by relying on elixirs and their wives—couldn’t very well stand up to questioning to begin with. Each and every one was torn this way and that in bizarre ways; the middle and lower levels of the West Peak turned into a disaster area.

At the manor of the “third-rate imperial grandson” where Xu Rucheng and his colleagues were concealed, several mutually contradictory orders arrived early in the morning: now they wanted them to seal the doors and windows and let no one in or out, now they said they wanted them to temporarily withdraw from the Sanyue Mountains and get in touch with family in the mortal world as soon as possible to prepare for war. They didn’t know whether they were supposed to move or not.

The Silver Moon was like a pendulum that needed its spring tightened, wavering between the East and Central Peaks.

Xu Rucheng was in the courtyard, watching with his head raised. He heard a young maid come running in a panic to report that the imperial grandson had fainted yet again and to ask her ladyship what to do.

“Her ladyship,” without so much as batting an eyelash, perfunctorily said, “Oh, then give him some medicine.”

Because of the Luwu’s secret machinations, after eight years, the third-rate imperial grandson was still a mortal. He had gone from a youthful chronic invalid sprout to a middle-aged chronic invalid…barrel, and he had picked up a “wife-fearing disease”—it wasn’t that he was afraid of being under his wife’s thumb; it was that as soon as he saw his wife, he would act like he had seen a ghost; his calf muscles would start twitching from three zhang away. Saying a few words could make him pass out on the spot. At first it was only his own wife he had feared; later the scope had increased—his scalp would go numb whenever he saw a woman.

But there was nothing to be done. Over the years, Yu Family Bend had declined, Prince Qing Manor had lost power, and the third-rate imperial grandson had been increasingly excluded in the inner sect, relying entirely on the support of his wife. Having developed such a shameful problem, he didn’t dare to make it public. In recent years, his health had been constantly deteriorating; soon he would kick the bucket. Xu Rucheng and his colleagues had initially been discussing whether they would be able to find another equally suitable identity for infiltrating the Sanyue Mountains once they became “widows.”

Though under the circumstances, it looked like their anxiety had been superfluous; the Sanyue Mountains might not outlive the third-rate imperial grandson.

While Sanyue’s spiritual energy had been draining away year by year, for the impoverished Kaiming Cultivators, it was still notably plentiful. Apart from Xu Rucheng, who no longer had a family to worry about, the other Luwu would periodically be relieved of duty so they could rest and visit family. When they came back, all of them said that being in the Sanyue Mountains for one year, you advanced faster than through ten years of diligent cultivation in the human world. Even a punching bag like the third-rate grandson could live in luxury, immune to winter cold and summer heat. This assignment, which had once been absurd and dangerous, had turned into a “cushy job” that all their colleagues envied.

Xu Rucheng suddenly thought, So this is what it means to be “noble.”

But the nobles who usually passed judgment on the world were all as jumpy as startled cats and dogs; how were they superior to commoners?

All of a sudden, all the birds in Sanyue’s valleys rose in alarm. The inscriptions at the boundaries of the great mountain array lit up like the tide coming in. Everyone’s spiritual senses pushed them to turn their heads to look east—at this critical moment, Xuanwu had returned to the Sanyue Mountains.

The great mountain array also seemed to be subject to a tug of war between two forces. As if it had a faulty connection, it was flickering on and off. The Silver Moon swept truculently towards Xuanwu. The fatal moonlight broke off midway, only snapping Xuanwu’s hairband. His head of white hair and his white clothes fluttered in the fierce wind. There seemed to be blood staining his hems and his paper mask.

Xuanwu spoke. His voice reverberated throughout the Sanyue Mountains. “All you rebels! You have sealed Dongheng City and locked the emperor’s quarters under the guise of protecting him. This is treason. You wish to depose the emperor and enthrone another. This is a conspiracy against the state!”

Xu Rucheng’s ears rang from his speech. He quickly shot his colleagues a look. The information was immediately transmitted to all the Luwu in Tao County. At the same time, the North Xia Waterborne Troops who nominally had jurisdiction over Tao County also received orders, saying that their former superior the Marquis of Qulong was conspiring against the state and ordering them to temporarily place themselves under the charge of the Qilin Guard outside of Tao County, remain where they were, and obey orders.

Zhao Qindan was doing two things at once. With a cartridge clip between her teeth, she was examining a hand cannon while glancing over complicated accounts, calculating how much goods and materials they would need once Tao County came under siege.

Just then, there was a noise from the gate of her small, secluded house. The newcomer very elegantly knocked three times, neither soft nor loud.

Zhao Qindan froze—all the Luwu contacted her through the reincarnation wood and very rarely came to knock at her door. The female students from the neighborhood were very familiar with her, sometimes even coming in without asking; when they knocked, it didn’t sound like this.

She had been born with a first-class spiritual sense and was unusually sensitive. She grasped the hand cannon. When she opened the gate, she saw the red-eyed Yu Chang standing there.

Though she knew perfectly well that in Tao County, where the use of spiritual energy was prohibited, there was no difference between an ascended spirit and a mortal, her spine still tensed inadvertently.

In Southern Shu—

Lin Chi’s fireworks had nearly been pushed up to the moon and stars by the ascended spirit peak masters. Across the South Sea, there were even some places in Southern Shu where they were visible.

For some reason, as if these fireworks were sentient, they could provoke different emotions in different people: they had made the people of Wan stupidly happy and made Western Chu restless, and they ignited the long-suppressed grief and indignation of the ancient clan of Southern Shu.

The Miah owner of a butcher’s shop had been huddled deferentially in a corner, allowing the Xiuyi government officer to close down the little shop his whole family’s survival relied on. When the fireworks suddenly snatched away the dawn light, the hired thugs and the beasts of burden alike were stunned. One of the Xiuyi officers had gotten a stiff neck from sleeping the night before; he watched with his neck twisted for a long moment. When he came back to his senses, he nearly pulled a muscle in his shoulder. Lowering his head, he saw the shop owner’s little Miah cur imitating his crooked-necked stance.

This Miah child was just at the age to start growing permanent teeth. He didn’t understand anything. When he was discovered, he stuck out his tongue, wanting to cutely show his gap-toothed smile like he usually did with adults. He was immediately picked up by the Xiuyi officer, who out of nowhere was enraged, and flung heavily against the wall.

The grey-eyed boy didn’t even have time to scream. His head twisted, and he stopped moving. His aproned father still held a boning knife.

The butcher shop’s owner stood there blankly for a long time. Then he suddenly gave a roar and threw himself at that Xiuyi officer.

Once the first drop of blood had fallen in the conflict between the two clans, it couldn’t be taken back.

The Miah on Southern Shu’s peninsula lacked manpower and resources. Ultimately, their sparks of resistance couldn’t connect to form a fire and set the fields ablaze. Instead, they only enraged the Xiuyi.

Starting from a small town eighty li from the imperial capital of Zhaoye, an indiscriminate hunt aimed at the Miah began.

Like the fireworks exploding in the distance, the unprecedented massacre quickly engulfed the whole of the Southern Shu peninsula, then spread to the Three Islands.

The Miah cultivators, unable to find Wangge Luobao, were scattered throughout the South Sea like headless flies. They contacted their families by a variety of means. Learning of the grievous news, they immediately rushed back from all points.

The Miah cultivators killed the first group of officers sent to the Three Islands by the court. The bloody conflict among the mortals was formally escalated to the immortal sect. The Xiuyi peace faction and the Miah officials, which had been striving all along to maintain the bond between the two clans, were powerless to turn back the tide of events.

Heartrending beast-controlling whistles reverberated throughout the South Sea. The two clans’ Dragon Subduing Knights thoroughly fell out. The smell of blood billowed in the spiritual energy in the sky over the strait. And the originator of all of this—Wangge Luobao—was in the mouth of the next life spiritual fish, whistling a tune and quietly watching.

He was of mixed Xiuyi and Miah blood and seemed to have picked up the best blessings of both clans, both tall and beautiful. Now, watching half of his people slaughtering the other half, Wangge Luobao, unmoved, leaned his head against his hand, still waiting for the opportune moment to appear—when the fight between the cultivators on both sides became incandescent, Lingyun’s inner sect sent even stronger individuals, and the Miah were at their most despairing, that would be the moment for the “savior” to appear.

Otherwise, a person of mixed blood couldn’t make the old farts on the Miah’s Three Islands hold their tongues.

In the hidden realm deep at the bottom of the South Sea, the spiritual beasts seemed to have sensed something. They faced north and let out sad cries.

In the hidden realm, the arrays to protect against incursion by spiritual beasts and lookout posts were basically complete. Today had been too unusual. Wei Chengxiang couldn’t rest, so she was personally standing guard at a sentry post, uneasily turning over the Silver Tray Lottery’s dice with her fingertips. Zhao Qindan, toilet bulletins from all over, the Land of Turmoil… All kinds of information flew at her like snowflakes.

Suddenly, a piece of news from the Land of Turmoil made Wei Chengxiang’s gaze pause. She quickly snatched up her reincarnation wood to contact Tai Sui. There was no answer from Xi Ping at the moment, so she turned to Zhao Qindan.

“Dandan, I have a piece of news here, coming from the Land of Turmoil, source unknown…”

Zhao Qindan had no attention to spare to answer. She heard Yu Chang say, “Xuanwu has just returned. As soon as he landed, he went into battle with the ascended spirits of the Central Peak who belong to other families. The Xiang clan has currently split into two parties, one standing with Xuanwu, the other advocating the position that Xuanwu is an evil cultivator, and that expelling evil should be put before internal affairs. Right now, the three groups are locked in battle. The beacons have been lit. All the heads of household are summoning their offerings. The offerings are burdened with spiritual image brands, they can’t delay long. Will Tai Sui agree or not? I would like a definite answer.”

Zhao Qindan thought, How would I know? Therefore, as she fobbed him off and passed on responsibility, she furtively responded to Wei Chengxiang through the reincarnation wood: “The Land of Turmoil? What is it?”

Wei Chengxiang and Yu Chang’s voices came simultaneously to her ears—

Wei Chengxiang said, “They’re saying the Xuanyin Mountains are dying. General Zhi has hushed it up and is planning to cut the other spiritual mountains down with them.”

Yu Chang, smiling brightly, said, “Also, we just received word: the Xuanyin Mountains have been taken over by traitors. Within a century at most, their spiritual energy will disperse throughout the veins of the earth. When that time comes, the Xuanyin Mountains will no longer exist.”

His scarlet eyes were fixed on Zhao Qindan’s shocked gaze. “I wonder whether Tai Sui knows of this.”

Xi Ping was turning a deaf ear to the chatter of the Luwu everywhere. Completely focused, he finished Xi Yue’s new core. Then the array knife shattered, and the spiritual energy of Flying Jade Peak, carrying frost and snow, all surged towards Xi Yue.

In this vast spiritual wind, an ascended spirit could still remain motionless as a mountain. Xi Ping reached out to “clutch” the wind. A talisman flashed in his palm, immediately pinching the ferocious spiritual wind down to a trickle. The gale was warmed to nearly human body temperature as it passed through his palm and flowed sluggishly into Xi Yue’s injured meridians. When cold and heat met, mist rose around the two of them.

A full incense stick of time later, the foundation was established; sword energy formed in Xi Yue and tore through the mist with a whistle, surging towards the horizon.

Xi Ping reached out a hand to block it. When he moved, the water droplets hanging from his long brows and eyelashes fell. He clicked his tongue and took out a mustard seed that became a small house when it touched the ground, then put Xi Yue into it. “Watch where you’re shooting that. That’s all I’m capable of. The core array is complete. For the rest, he can go into seclusion to improve it when he wakes up.”

Zhi Xiu looked at him, frowning, and spoke with rare severity: “Don’t you deserve a beating?”

“Heh, that little whelp is still far from being able to beat me.” Xi Ping casually wiped his face, cocked an ear to listen briefly, then, rejoicing at others’ misfortunes, said, “Don’t mention that. Guess what, shifu? The good doesn’t get past the gate, but the bad goes a thousand li—we may not have decades to a century anymore. Prepare to go to war.”

When Zhi Xiu had received Luo Qingshi’s message, he had known that this matter couldn’t be covered up. Therefore, he had already abandoned his illusions. “Someone has committed treason so soon? Who? Do you have any idea?”

“I saw some things when I was stewing Li Fengshan in the Unbound Furnace. I was interrupted by those blundering fools, but I can hazard a guess…” Xi Ping stood up and patted the snow off himself, then shouted into the sky: “San-ge, come down to the mortal world! My shizun requests the pleasure of your company!”

Zhi Xiu: “…”

Zhou Ying glanced towards the snow-capped mountain, then heard that jerk running his mouth again: “Yet another emperor in revolt! What’s the matter with your family traditions? It’s a disgrace! Just go ahead and switch to your mother’s surname already!”